Bipartisan US senators say Trump's Russia diesel deal breaks 2022 law

A bipartisan group of US senators said Donald Trump's move to allow Russian diesel imports is unlawful. They argued it defies a 2022 ban and undermines pressure on Moscow over Ukraine.Image used for representational purposes onlyWashington,Oct 12, 2026 08:00 ISTA bipartisan group of US senators has questioned the legality of President Donald Trump's decision to allow diesel imports from Russia, saying it goes against a 2022 law that bars such trade until Moscow ends the war in Ukraine. The senators raised the issue in a statement issued in Washington on Sunday.The move came after Trump said on Friday, following a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, that he had reached a deal with Russia to immediately supply 300,000 tons of diesel to the US and the global marketplace. The senators said the decision also came weeks after the US Congress passed the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act.In their statement, Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Richard Blumenthal and Ron Wyden from the Democratic Party, and Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis and John Curtis from the Republican Party, said: "Congress explicitly banned Russian energy imports in 2022 to prevent American dollars from financing Putin's brutal war against Ukraine." They added: "President Trump's decision to allow Russian diesel imports to the US runs directly counter to that law."The senators said the Trump Administration had also failed to consult Congress or submit any explanation to justify the decision as required by statute. They said that when Congress passed the 2022 law, it was clear that the US should not import oil from Russia until it ended its aggression against Ukraine and stopped threatening NATO allies. They also noted that Congress had overwhelmingly passed the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act weeks earlier, giving the President the power to impose sweeping sanctions on Moscow and 100 per cent tariffs on its top five trading partners in oil and gas, including India and China. The senators said: "The United States should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians. The Administration must immediately reverse course."The statement marked a bipartisan pushback against Trump's decision, with the senators arguing that the planned diesel imports from Russia violate existing US law and should be withdrawn. With PTI Inputs- Ends